Post-pandemic attitudes won’t disappear overnight

What aggravates COVID-19’s detrimental post-pandemic influences is that some of its consequences aren’t as fleeting as we had hoped them to be.

By Aaron Zhao

The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the most perplexing event of the 21st Century so far. It has impacted societies around the globe in virtually every possible way: economically, socially, politically, physically… the list goes on. What aggravates COVID-19’s detrimental influences is that some of its consequences aren’t as fleeting as we had hoped them to be. Post-pandemic attitudes will be here to stay, at least for a while.

The pandemic’s effect on: children

For starters, the pandemic brings up an important concept: nature vs nurture. Children are shaped by not only their mother and father’s biology, but also how they are brought up. Attributes of one’s identity such as language, culture, and even lifestyles and habits are fostered from an early age. Thus, changing them in adulthood is often a difficult task; this is why young children can learn new languages at much more proficient rates than adults (here, it boils down to brain elasticity and neural formation).

Children around the world have embraced remote learning and different means of communicating with peers and teachers by employing technology. For youth affected by the pandemic, their lifestyle is drastically different to similarly-aged children a decade ago, who would roam their imaginary kingdoms otherwise known as the playground as opposed to the endless world of Minecraft. In-person face to face interactions are limited to a few times a week, as opposed to every day in classrooms. Some of their most important years of childhood, in terms of socialization and camaraderie building during breaks and lunches have been replaced by Zoom calls and computer screens.

The pandemic’s effect on: Asians

Hate crime directed towards individuals of Asian ancestry are rising during this pandemic, which many believe are driven by the belief that Asians are solely responsible for causing the pandemic. Recently, the Atlanta spa shooting that left 8 people dead (6 of which were Asians) is believed to be driven by racist attitudes. As of March 17, 2021, 891 reported cases of Anti-Asian crimes have been identified across Canada. Harassment, not limited to just being verbal, has been on the rise.

However, previously, the #BlackLivesMatter movement had revitalized anti-racism/racial equality sentiments throughout North America, which may help deconstruct the various “sub-types” of racism, from institutionalized racism to racial discrimination.

The pandemic’s effect on: paranoia

Many citizens around the world are still either actively or subconsciously wary about walking around public spaces. Walking around mask-less is an image that still triggers the fear of many people. A single cough or sneeze on the bus or train attracts dozens of ears and eyeballs.

For others, the paranoia doesn’t come from the virus itself, but rather something the virus has indirectly caused. For some students caught in the pandemic, online learning may have a detrimental effect on their ability to absorb information. Grades then begin to drop, and cause one to fear for future opportunities at higher levels of learning. All of these are “secondary” factors that arise because the pandemic.

The key takeaway from this article? The pandemic is far from over.